Brass rolls his eyes at Glade. "I don't think that Luna would be amazingly happy if you just left the assignment that she gave you so that some pony she did not hoof pick for this team to take your place, so calm down." He looks at the others. "Anyway, if you want to talk to the creepy military officer about join us on this little excretion then you had better hurry. I doubt they will want us spending more then a day here before we hit the road."

*Examining the fort revels relatively little to do. There is a small library and a cantina for the soldiers on duty to spend time relaxing in there off hours at and a mail serves station where letters to and from the outside world are sorted. Outside the fort and around an hours trot is a village populated with ponies who only loosely identify with Equestria, but who are more then willing to sell goods and services to the off duty REA ponies.*

As Dart enters the meeting room he sees the Field Marshal step back from a bat pony mare he has never meet before. Gleaming Shied, Songbird's eldest child and right hoof mare is standing to the side, looking less then happy with the intrusion. "What is it, solider?" She snaps.

"At ease." Songbird says, gruff voice oddly soft for a moment, before he turns to face Dart. "I left orders for no pony to enter this room unless I called for them or there was an a matter of pressing impotence." His voice takes on a slight tone of annoyance as he gets a better look at Dart. "So what is it?" From behind him, Dart sees the Batpony turn her face away, trying to hide the fact that tears had begun to run down her cheeks.

Dart stands tall and salutes "Sir, Corporal Moonlight Shield, I'm here to request to be put on the mission that my Cousins are on Jak and Tak Marcus, Sir they aren't strong enough for this, Sir" Dart said with a clear tone of worry

{thats Dart for you, he tries to come across as a bad colt in frount of his family but truely worries about them}

-*-

"wow this place is boring" Jack said slumped over

"your only saying that because they wouldn't sell you any Hard cider" Tak said with a look of disgust

"what, I want to see why Rainbow Dash likes it so much. any way let's head back, I want to be there when Songbird lets Dart in"

Songbird looks the pony over for several long seconds before saying, "The Princes requested that the team that she assembled not be changed." His one good eye darts over towered his younger daughter. "I cannot officially ask for any pony to be withdrawn from the mission and I cannot send my own ponies to accompany them, so I am sorry, but your request is denied." Songbird looks towered his older daughter. "Gleaming, to insure that the princess orders are not violated I will be assigning Corporal Shield an new assignment to keep him busy." He looks back at Dart with a gleam in his eye. "Solider, until further notice I am re-assigning you too my personal gaurd. As such, the protection of myself and my immediate family is your highest priority. As it so happens, my safety is currently not in question, however that of my second child is not." He points at Nightingale. "You are to accompany my daughter and her companies until they have safely returned to Equestria. Do you understand?"

Gleaming Shield looks nervous and Nightingale looks like she wants to protest, but neither seems willing to openly question the old war horse.

Dart looks dumbfounded looking around with his eyes, breathes heavaly for a few moments before lowering his head covering his eyes "but my cousins..." a single tear drops before he look at Songbird with a wide-eyed glance "you mean.." a smile bursts forth as he salutes "thank you SIR, I will not fail you or my Father or Princess Luna"

"See that you do not." Songbird waves to Gleaming. "See that he is outfitted with anything he requires. I am authorizing access to all equipment, weapons, gear and rations. If the armor has a problem with any of this remind him that he is free to bring up any and all question with me." He looks at both Dart and Nightingale. "Gather what you need quickly. You need to move out quickly if you wish to reach the first party in time to help them." He waves you all out, but just before Dart can leave he holds him back.

Closing the door so that the two ponies are alone in the room he bends down to star Dart directly in the face. "I am breaking alto of regulations so that you can go on this mission, colt." His voice drops to a low growl as he continues. "The Princess has her reasons for picking the ponies for this assignment that she has and it is not my place to question her, but understated this, Nightingale has tried and failed the advanced military placement tests four times already. She is NOT qualified for this assignment and I have no intention to lose a child on an assignment that Luna seems to believe is dangerous or fragile for my own forces." He leans in closer so that his bronze mask is almost touching Dart's face. "So, you can leave with them and fight with them and try to save the Princess with them, but if something happens to my little filly and she dose not come back, YOU don't come back. Understood?"

He steps back and opens the door gesturing for you to leave. In his normal tone he repeats. "Do we have an understanding solider?"

"I am glad to here it." Songbird leads Dart out the door to the others. "The rest of your gear is prepared, you will go down to the armory to retrieve it along with whatever Special Agent Corporal Moonlight Shield will need for the trip. Then you will take your leave. Good luck to all of you and my Luna grant you speed." He finishes with a salute which Nightingale and Gleaming Shield match with there own.

"What is it now?" The master of arms glares at the group of ponies assembled before him. "Oh grate, what else now? I thought you had already taken everything you needed, what more could you possibly want?" He sees Dart and groins. "Oh Luna, there sending you too, aren't they? And I spouse you need a pile of magical artifacts as well don't you?" He glowers at Dart. "Well out with it! What are you here for?"

The pony grumbles, but heads back into the armory. He comes back with a number of bundles which he pushes to each of the ponies. "These are the sets of armor you requested along with a few recon clocks. Rations are included along with some money, but don't get ahead of yourself, there's not enough in there to go crazy unless you want to go scrounging for food and water instead of buying more supplies."

He looks at Dart and Glade. "I don't know what you are going off to do out there and its above my pay grade to ask, but if you get yourself's killed out there keep in mind that each one of you is carrying enough bits worth of gear to buy a small village in the borderlands, so don't go flaunting what you have."